


satellites: parallel

by hyperloop



Series: satellites [7]
Category: Original Work, Satellites - Fandom
Genre: Other, bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 03:56:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13539198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyperloop/pseuds/hyperloop
Summary: shit gets real yo





	satellites: parallel

**Author's Note:**

> i just wanted to say that its officially been over a year since i started writing satellites and no one cares because no one really supports me on here but if, in the future, you do, thank you so much

_ Satellites: Parallel _

 

_ . . . _

 

It only took the time it took for Salem to become bored from laying in his bed to start and think about what he should do next. He knew Renegade was nearby, but out of sight. For the last day, he had made keeping an eye out over the confusing robot his utmost priority. Making sure it stays out of trouble, and away from other humans until further notice. But he knew he couldn’t live like this forever. Something has to happen, right?

 

Salem sighed and sat up in his bed, stretching. Of the now two days Renegade has stayed with him, every time he woke up, it was not where it last was. Yesterday morning by the time Salem had woken up, Renegade was downstairs and his dad was persuading it into eating a ham sandwich. A noble gesture, admittedly, but the persuasion didn’t seem to be so effective. After that interaction, he didn’t feel like checking downstairs again. 

 

But their house was nothing too impressive and there were only so many places within that Renegade could be. Or… without? Salem’s mental lightbulb blinked. He stood up out of bed and stretched again, his back cracking. He put on a pair of sweatpants that he found on the floor and pushed open his window, feeling cool fall air push back at him. He stepped out onto the roof, and peeped his head to the ledge above. He saw a humanoid body laying flat on its back on the peak. “Oh, Ren…” Salem groaned out loud and climbed up to the top layer of the roof. He laid down on his back right next to Renegade, but it didn’t react. After a few more seconds of Renegade not reacting, Salem tilted his head and looked at it. 

 

Something was off. Its eyes were still purple but they didn’t glow like they once did. “Are you okay?” Salem asked. Renegade weakly moved its head to look at him. “They’re so far away.” It responded. 

 

“What’s far away?” Salem questioned. “I need to get closer. When we’re out of reach of our domains, we just lose energy.” It paused. “I need to rest, I need to go back and recharge so I can become lively again. But I’m scared and I don’t think I can.” It paused again. “It’s funny, I think humans are like that too, in a way.” “You wanna go home?” “Yes and no. I would never leave you, Salem, but I wasn’t designed to be this far away from where I come for awhile.” “Well then I’ll get you home. Don’t you worry, Ren.” He responded with determination. Suddenly, his phone vibrated and chimed in the pocket of his pants. But he ignored it. “How?” Renegade asked. 

 

“I… Uhh…” His phone vibrated again, twice. “Okay, I don’t really know. But I WILL find a way. I th--”  _ Buzz buzz. _ He quickly became vexed with the phone blowing up. “Ugh, give me a second.” He slid his phone out of his pocket with a disgruntled expression and, with no time to waste, opened his messenger. He saw at least one message from Gale and multiple from Cambria. He opened Cambria’s first.

 

[9:05 AM] circuit: uh, salem?

 

[9:05 AM] circuit: in light of some recent things you’ve told me, i saw something on the news you might be interested in

 

[9:05 AM] circuit: it’s about an alien sighting in your area, that reportedly struck ground and did damage

 

[9:05 AM] circuit: and there’s an alarming amount of “witnesses”

 

[9:05 AM] circuit: go check the tv and you’ll see what i mean

 

Salem broke into a cold sweat at the notion of these messages being what he thought they meant. He tabbed open to Gale’s chat.

 

[9:05 AM] Gale Daltroy: If I were you, I’d go check the news ASAP.

 

He exhaled shakily, turning his phone off and flopping his hand on the surface of the roof. “We need to go inside. Now.” Whispering in exasperation, he grabbed Renegade’s hand and they crawled off of the roof and back into Salem’s room through the window. He panted loudly with stress and walked downstairs, cautiously aware of Renegade behind him. He went into the kitchen where his dad was sipping his morning joe, on his laptop computer. “Just the man I was looking for. Didya hear the news?” 

 

“What’s going on?!” Salem yelled. “I’ll let you see for yourself.” He clicked onto the local live feed. A woman with overstated blonde hair and large earrings and a calming, official voice was on the screen. 

 

“A plethora of reports have been filed in all around, and they’re all of a similar nature, officials say. One thing we all can agree on, mid day yesterday, something supposedly  _ crashed from the sky _ and struck a power line just outside of a local high school. Witnesses say this object was dark in color, left behind some smoldery residue, and, interestingly enough,  _ fled the scene _ after investigation.” A man in a suit with a face that looked too good was next on the screen. “There was even some footage of the incident submitted by witnesses.” He said, as a grainy picture of a crowd of people with a visibly downed power line and a trail of what appeared to be smoke was in the air. The picture zoomed in slowly, between a few people you could see Renegade, but wrapped in its hoodie beyond the point of identification. “Now we will speak with a witness who said she was jogging by at the time of the incident.” The report moved to a woman holding a mic up to another woman’s face. “I was doing my morning jog and next thing I know something comes crashin’ from the freakin’ sky! Kaboom! I stop to get a look and people gather all around, pushing and shoving, and then a boy comes in, and it must be an alien of some sort, because the boy and the alien run away! I don’t know what happened after that.” She explained, with exaggerated hand movements. “We still know relatively little on the situation because of some ambiguity in police reports. If you have any information on the incident or the whereabouts of this boy and this alien, please call them in. And now, back to you, Ted, for ‘Pets with the Best’.” Salem’s dad stopped the feed and turned to look at the two of them. 

 

“Well, boys, looks like your lives are about to get pretty interesting.” “Yeah, I’ll say.” Salem replied. He turned to look at Renegade with anxiety and frustration swelling in his chest. Renegade put its head up feebly. He took note of the slightly detectable weakness in its face. “We gotta get you back. I can tell.” He spoke through his teeth as he bit his lip. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.” Renegade responded, and Salem knew quite well what it was getting at. Leaving the house without some form of guise or stratagem was risky business for anyone involved, since anyone who’s had their eyes on the news for the past hour is officially on their case. But what he didn’t know was all of the juicy ins and outs of Renegade’s problem. Was it strong enough to exert the energy to fly itself home? If not, how would it get there unassisted? If we need assistance, where could we safely get that? So many questions, and, to his chagrin, so little time. 

 

“Come on Ren, let’s go upstairs.” The robot followed Salem up to his room. Salem shut the door behind them. “Lay down right here.” Renegade crawled into Salem’s bed and laid face toward the ceiling window, crossing its fingers on both hands together by its chest. It didn’t say a word. Salem sat down on the bed next to him, biting his lip some more. He ran his fingers through his greasy brown hair, puffing hot air into his cheeks. He turned to Renegade. It seemed decrepit; its eyelids drooped down in the way of augmented purple irises. A severely tightening unease set on Salem and he could only imagine how Renegade might feel. A bird’s arrhythmic song broke their concentrations and the two turned to the right, looking at a tree out the window where a group of birds were gathering rather noisily. Salem gazed down at Renegade as the birds settled in, he saw Renegade smiling at the birds. When Salem’s questioning of Renegade’s mental state overpowered his ability to remain quiet about it, he saw no harm in sharing a story or two. 

 

“During the summer, I sleep with the window open because for the first few days, I think it’d be nice to wake up at 6 AM by choice like the birds do to enjoy the natural beauty of the world. After a day or two it becomes more of a chore and by day four at most I groggily shake myself out of bed to pull the window closed and fall asleep again. You’d be surprised how annoying it gets after a few days.” Renegade kept smiling.

 

“It really is delicate, you know. The way everything is down here. Creatures are so soft and forgiving.” Renegade managed to get out, sounding sage as ever. “You have these lives and you have these intentions. It makes me the happiest bot I could be to share it with you. We don’t have that kind of human intuition where I come from. You take it for granted but it’s truly quite rare.” It paused. “We’re not compassionate. We’re not meant to love, but from what I understand, maybe for what we do it’s better off we don’t. I think a human’s ability to feel is a gift from above that we could never achieve without first attempting to connect. And I’d love to share it.” 

 

Salem grinned at Renegade and laughed a bit, for lack of a better or more appropriate response. “Ren, I’ll do anything I can to help you share your findings with your species. It will be my pleasure.” As Salem spoke, he saw Renegade’s eyes open wider. It let go of its own hand and wiggled its digits in place. “Salem, I feel a little better now.” It said, but it sounded almost reluctant. “That’s great! Why do you sound worried?” “No, I think it m--” Renegade was cut off by some kind of sonic boom of sorts. Something bassy and distant shook the house, the birds in the tree that were singing so playfully squawked and darted away. Renegade laid completely still, while Salem’s eyes shot up and down and back and forth. “What was that?” He finally asked. “Uh oh.” “What was it?!?” Salem repeated with a calm facade. Without warning, Renegade shot up out of bed. “I have a feeling we should go back to the news.” It said, disconcertingly. Salem went downstairs with Renegade.

 

“Once again, boys, your timing is impeccable. You might be interested in the breaking news.” He turned his laptop to face them, on it was a series of mechanical bleeps and a headline reading “BREAKING NEWS!” The same woman from earlier was on, but this time, she was live, and in the middle of the city. 

 

The woman spoke as if she’s lost all composure, in complete shock. Something appeared to be wrong with the reception as well, because the video stream cut in and out, leaving them on the edge. They heard pieces of the story at a time, through crowds of people screaming for some reason. 

 

“We report to you from the city...” They understood. “...Where chaos has broken out, as more of what happened yesterday appears to be happening... right now!” She yells, eyes darting to her surroundings. The video dropped in quality and began to buffer. People in the background were running and scattering. The video glitched but they gained a few words of admonition. “You are urged to stay in your place of residence and take shelter until this emergency is identified.” 

 

“We have to go out there!” Yelled Renegade. “Are you serious?” Salem asked. “I mean, I’ll do it, but you looked like you were in bad shape earlier.” “I don’t know why. But I feel like I sh--” Something else that sounded like an explosion erupted in the distance. “I feel like I should.” The robot finished. Salem ran his hands through his hair, breathed out, and looked out the kitchen window into the distance. “I’ll get my shoes on. Stay here.” Salem ran upstairs to his room and picked up the first socks he found and the only shoes he had. As he sat on his bed, tying them up with a furious speed, he stared out the window, past the field, into the city, where he could see the buildings past the trees in the distance. He registered a colorful aura, not knowing if it was imagined or real. “Ugh, Ren...” He sighed. He furrowed his eyebrows and bit his tongue. He knew deep down he’d do anything for Renegade, but he sure as hell felt tested sometimes. He put a gray jacket on and hopped back downstairs. 

 

“You’re going out into the city? I’m not sure that’s a good…” Another explosion. “...idea.” Mr. Daltroy questioned. “We’ll be fine!” Salem gently tugged on Renegade’s hood, indicating he was ready to go. “Call me if you need anything, I’m serious. No shenanigans.” “Okay, dad.” Salem said, chuckling to himself. He and Renegade shuffled out the door.

 

It was relatively cool out, it being not even noon yet. But it was sunny nonetheless and breezy as well. Perfect weather to run head on into some hazardous explosions in the distance, if there ever was. The two moved swiftly, for fear that if they stopped a neighbor would have time to question them. Renegade followed Salem’s steps closely behind, not saying a word along the way. As they got closer to the city, they heard people shouting and clamoring and running in the opposite direction. They ran along the sidewalks of some tall buildings. Salem looked down the sidewalk, now bearing a completely different atmosphere than when he was previously headed towards the city that rainy, dreary night. 

 

Renegade got a few strange looks, as something about the sight just didn’t feel “normal”. It was too tall and lanky, but regular enough to pass for a funny looking human when clothed, so it decided to put its hood up, hiding its head of silver hair and half of a face. They ran to round the corner of a restaurant into the center block of the city with people rushing past them. “‘Scuse me, sorry, pardon me.” Salem whispered, pushing by. Some people collided with him, some hit Renegade. “Watch where you’re going!” An angry lady yelled at Renegade as it smacked into her arm. 

 

It was at this time that Salem could really use the height advantage that Renegade had over him. Its head was a little above almost all others, but Salem pushed his way to the center block of the city. There was a large group of people blocking a road, and in the middle of the group was some smoke rising to the sky, strongly resembling that of Renegade’s. Renegade looked over it and slapped its hands onto Salem’s shoulders. “I need to see what’s in there.” It yelled out enough to be heard over the commotion but not to be detected by anyone else. Salem looked up at it, into its eyes which were almost hidden by the hood and obscured by its hair. He stared ahead. He knew it was time to let Renegade do what it had to do. “Go for it.” He said. 

 

Renegade slid in between people and Salem stood back until it was in the front lines of the crowd. People shoved back and swore at it for being so rude, but it seemed unaffected. Renegade gazed into the crater before it. Salem took a few more steps forward and noticed that Renegade was shaking just a little. “Ren,” He whispered to himself. Renegade jumped into the crater. The crowd erupted with a lot of “Sir! What do you think you’re doing?!” but it didn’t react. 

 

In the pit, there was a blackened metallic figure that actually looked a lot like Renegade. It bent down to touch the figure despite the crowd and authorities screaming in protest, they didn’t know what to do. Renegade wiped its fingers on the creature and smudged off some of the blackness. Renegade pulled the hood off of its head and smoothed its hair. Salem heard the surrounding people yelling at it, calling it stupid, some claimed it was “the robot from the other day!”. Renegade quaked and grabbed what was assumed to be a fellow robot on the arm and muttered something incoherent. Salem faced backwards and looked around, after looking on some more, it appeared like there were multiple craters with smoke and people gathered. He turned back to Renegade, the robot under it did not move. As if that wasn’t stressful enough, some people started shrieking behind him. Everyone in the group had their attention swayed to something falling from the sky. Something made a pitchy sound as if falling to Earth, Salem looked at the ashy sky with everyone else and a flying object was headed straight for the middle of the city. Salem’s heart pounded in his throat, the thing in the sky appeared bigger as it got near, and people scattered off, screaming some more, hoping to not be in its path of strike, because unlike the others, this object seemed to be kind of massive. 

 

As the crowd cleared out, Renegade squatted alone in the indented gravel. “Ren, we have to get out of here, something’s headed straight for us!” He hopped into the crater and squatted down next to it. Renegade didn’t respond, it seemed completely enticed by the robot in the pit, still touching it and learning its face. “Ren.” Whispered Salem, looking at it. Renegade sighed and stood up off of the ground and turned to look at the thing crashing from the sky. Salem pulled himself up grabbing Renegade’s hand, it looked at the object and jerked backwards, eyes widening. It looked back and forth rapidly, grabbed Salem’s arm, and ran away from the pit. They ran away from the falling object but it was bound to strike any second now, so they took shelter under a tall brick building. Renegade sat and pulled its legs to its chest and covered its head with its arms. The object was about to hit, Salem imitated Renegade right next to it and covered his head, palms sweating and mouth dry with fear. 

 

The object made contact directly with the tree in the roundabout in the center of the city, with an ear shattering, ground shaking boom. The roundabout and tree were obliterated. The object was bright silver, reflective, and spherical, buried in the ground upon impact. The city was empty because of everyone fleeing, sans some emergency sirens in the distance that sounded like they were getting closer. 

 

Renegade gently lifted its head up to look at the enormous silver ball, which was about the size of an average house condensed into a sphere. When it saw the ball, it kneeled up onto its feet and awed at it hypnotically. Salem moved his head to see Renegade towering above him. It extended its robotic hand and Renegade took it to pull him up. Some police cars arrived at the scene, and men with a variety of weapons stepped out, which just made the whole scene all the more suspenseful. Renegade saw the policemen, looked at Salem, and made a run for it. Salem followed it as fast as he could, Renegade was running TO the large silver ball. It jumped over the curbs of the road and over craters in the concrete with Salem’s legs carrying him as hard as they could. The police saw the two running at it. “Stop right there!” They shouted, Salem stopped in his tracks but Renegade kept running. “You should maybe stop running now. We need everyone out of the city.” They urged at it, but it kept running until it was in reach of the giant orb. Salem squinted and could see the police raising their arms in Renegade’s direction. He groaned loudly and ran out after Renegade. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” He yelled, running to Renegade’s savior with his hands up. “You boys need to get in the car immediately. We’ll keep you safe until we have determined the severity of the situation.” He froze with his hands still up. This was it, the critical moment where he had genuinely no idea what to do. No idea what Renegade was thinking, either. 

 

“Get in the car. Now.” One of the policemen said, stepping closer to them. He didn’t do anything, his head was just gravel and noise, waiting for an answer, waiting for some reason to come to him but he couldn’t produce anything. A sudden very bright beam shot out of the top of the shiny sphere and broke everyone’s tension to look at it. From the beam there was an opening in the top, where two opening flaps fell within their reach. Renegade grabbed Salem’s hand and used the other to latch onto the handle of the opening, pulling itself and Salem up. Salem squirmed and almost fell, but reflexively reached his arm around Renegade’s neck, fortunately it didn’t seem to mind Salem’s weight on its back. It crawled up to the opening and stopped on top right by the beam of light which was blindingly bright when they looked at the sky to see how far up it went. “Ren, what are you doing??” Salem asked in panic, as it stopped right in front of it. “I’m going in. Are you ready?” “Uhh…!” Salem looked back down, quite far a bit off of the ground and noticed more emergency vehicles arriving and some people throwing stuff at the orb. “Here we go!” It shouted, and tumbled down into the beam of light with Salem holding tight onto its back. The orb closed back up the second they fell into it, the beam disappearing. 

 

The two landed on the hard ground, Renegade crushed under Salem. The inside was so dark that you couldn’t see, but feel the floor. “Are you alright?!” Salem asked, with fear that Renegade was hurt in the drop. He rolled off and flipped Renegade’s weight with its face up. It opened its eyes, giving a little bit of light off. “I’m okay.” It said. “Where are we?” He asked. “Good question, Salem.” A disembodied and frankly rather creepy voice responded. Even Renegade’s eyes looked confused. “Why don’t you come see for yourselves?” The voice was mechanical, reminding him of Renegade’s voice, but with a noticeably more feminine tone to it. They peered off around them to gather what information they could, and a pair of eyes that were exactly like Renegade’s appeared some yards away from them, but instead of purple, they were bright red in shade. They shone the same captivating way like Renegade in the moonlight. The two sat up on the floor as some lights lit up the walls surrounding them. The lights were harsh and bright like the lights at a gas station in the early AMs. The walls were a bright silver and Salem squinted when the reflected light from the walls hit his eyes. The round ball they were in seemed about twice as big on the inside as it appeared when they saw it from the outside. They noticed they were on a large metal platform, with rails on the edges, and presumably something underneath. But what was dead ahead of them got them the most. 

 

Standing the same distance away there was a creature wearing a gorgeous but torn blood red and black dress that fell down to its feet and stopped up around its chest. It had a very familiar and recognizable color of opalescent silver hair. The hair was straight and down past its shoulders to its chest, and had some bangs that hid its forehead. It had the same fleshy color of Renegade and one robotic arm, but a whole face with those bright eyes. It was thin in figure and what human society might consider objectively “beautiful”, despite not being human at all. The two continued to sit there, gawking like idiots. 

 

“My name is Vendetta,” It said. “I’m here to save you.” 

 

“Where did you come from?” Renegade questioned without hesitation. 

 

“I’m just like you, Renegade.” Renegade opened its mouth to speak, but said nothing. 

 

“I’ve come to save you from hurting yourself anymore. We miss you so much back in our domain. Come back, will you?” “Why should I?” It retorted. “Defiance is an act of rebellion, you know we don’t take very kindly to that.” “I’m not defying anything, I asked a question.” Salem was proud of the robot for defending itself so logically, but at the same time, the tension in the air was nerve racking. “Things have been different ever since you left. It doesn’t feel like our domain anymore.” It said, slowly taking steps closer to Salem and Renegade, the end of its dress dragging on the cold floor. “Human life is a cesspool. You could do so much better, just think about all of the humans you could build in the domain. You could build an empire that would wipe these little ones off of the surface of the universe back in our domain. You could become a god with me and take back everything you’ve ever wanted. Doesn’t that sound nice?” It bent down to Renegade and held its chin in its silver metallic hand, cradling its head. 

 

“It sounds lonely.” It flinched out of Vendetta’s touch. Vendetta’s eyes widened at the dismissive act. “That’s unfortunate. Fortunately, I have something that might change your mind.” It turned around and its hands started to glow with its colored aura. Pixels materialized from its fingers to form the shape of another person. It extended its hands and the figure became larger until it was the size of a human child. Renegade seemed surprised, like it knew what this person was. When it formed in its entirety, it appeared as a solid object and Vendetta backed away, admiring its work. The person was precisely like the robot outside, in the crater that Renegade stooped to touch. Renegade stood up from the floor and walked over to it. “Who’s that?” Salem anxiously chirped. 

 

Renegade didn’t look back at him to answer. “This is the first human I ever built…” It spoke with despondency. It had the appearance of a human boy. “If you don’t come back with me, this little one will be eliminated.” Vendetta said with a smirk. “I’ll leave you be for a minute or two while we prepare to take off.” It walked away from them and jumped off of a rail onto whatever platform was below the one they were currently standing on. 

 

The young looking robot, who was about a foot shorter than Renegade, looked up to it. Its eyes, plating, and hair were black with hints of viridian. “It’s okay, Ren. I understand that we all have to make sacrifices sometimes. I wasn’t made to stick around for a long time, you know it too.” Renegade bent down and hugged the robot, while Salem sat behind and watched, feeling sicker and sicker as he understood the gravity of the their decisions. “I made you out of love and emotion, I want you to know that.” Renegade said to the little one. They heard the sound of a rocket nearing liftoff, or what they’ve imagined of it. “Yes, well, I didn’t imagine I’d see you again this way, but I want you to live as long as you can just the way you want to. With whoever you want to! I want you to live to see the day where these parallels won’t be seen anymore. I want you to live to see that one last satellite left in the sky, and when you do, I want you to think about how happy you are and how far you’ve come.” Renegade rested its forehead on the forehead of the smaller bot. “Alright, ready to go.” The three of them looked up to see Vendetta who sneaked back onto their level of the ship. Renegade stood up straight and looked it in the glaring red eyes. The engines got louder by the second and Salem felt the vibrations from the floor of the ship run up his legs. “Vendetta, to prioritize one life over another is a risky challenge. You’ve got some nerve assuming I’d do so that easily.” “Sounds good. If you won’t, I will. More for me. Just thought I’d share the joy.” It used its arm to quickly materialize a metal rod with a tip sparking dark red electricity no longer than its forearm. “Get ready for a shock.” It said. Salem’s lurking sense of danger finally surfaced and he squirmed uncomfortably. Renegade stepped backward like a cat fleeing from a splash of water. “You wouldn’t do this.” It said to Vendetta. “Oh, I wouldn’t? You think so?” Vendetta scratched at its face until the light metal plating on its face began to peel. It grunted and made a loud, powerful scream as it pulled one side of its face off. Salem turned away from the gruesome sight. It threw what looked like half of a mask at the ground with a metallic clang, its inner metal plating now exposed just like Renegade’s. 

 

“You’ve got one shot,” It yelled maniacally, raising the sparking metal rod and coming closer slowly. Renegade grasped its smaller humanoid, which was paralyzed with fear beyond the point of disobedience. Salem walked backward, wanting to interfere but knowing there was a pretty solid chance Vendetta would kill him if he did. It got closer and right before it leaped in to take a swat at Renegade and the small bot with the rod, Renegade yelled, balled its fist, and punched into the center of the the young robot’s chest, grabbing something and ripping cords out of it. All of the color vanished from the bot’s eyes and it fell limp to the floor. Renegade stuffed whatever it took from the little robot into the pocket of its hoodie. It charged at Salem, before he had time to react, Renegade had secured him in its arms. Its feet gave off purple flame again, hovering for a second while Vendetta screamed. It almost, for a second, considered giving a humorous quip before it disappeared to meet again in their next battle, but hadn’t the headspace to think of one. Vendetta quaked, pulling its fingers through its hair. Two wings as silver as its hair hatched from both of its sides, tearing holes in the dress. The wings were a little too large for its body, or so it seemed. Salem looked up at Renegade, whose mouth was agape. It adjusted its grip on the boy and shot up, piercing a hole in the ceiling of the ship at an amazing speed. It went up and curved at some incalculable direction with their stomachs facing the sky. Salem couldn’t tell where they were going, and maybe he was better off that way. 

 

After a few minutes of flying brain meltingly fast, Renegade flipped over and let Salem’s legs dangle, kind of like hang gliding but unregulated, unsupervised, and about four times more dangerous. They dropped lower in the sky and swerved through trees and past skyscrapers until nothing seemed like Salem recognized it anymore. Salem shivered, noticing the air suddenly felt cooler. Renegade slowed down and prepared to drop to the ground. There was a retro-looking motel under them when Renegade descended to let Salem down on his feet. Salem planted his feet firmly on the ground and put his hands on the building to ground himself, breathing heavily. His eyes passed over to Renegade. The robot stood there, looking at its feet and then at the sky. “So, where are we?” He finally asked.

 

“I don’t really know!” Renegade said. “You, you just… Okay.” They glanced past each other. “Well, let’s explore.” Renegade suggested. They were currently in a parking area behind a motel, with a wooded area behind the dumpsters at the end of the lot. The two followed the wall to the front of the motel. It was still rather nice out, t-shirt or light jacket weather. Maybe a little cooler than it felt in the city with the sky an open blue once again. It was peaceful and quiet even with the song of the birds. There were few cars in the lot, the motel seemed, for the most part, abandoned, but they figured if anything it might make a decent shelter. They walked to the front door and the door opened itself with a whirr, spitting some breeze in their faces. 

 

The place immediately smelled like a friendly establishment, like a lodge in the summer. The atmosphere was bleak however, they noted, as they dragged their feet on the unkempt worn down red carpet floor. No one was at the front desk but they did hear footsteps behind. Having heard the slide doors open, a youngish looking boy came to the desk. He began to speak but swallowed back his words after seeing Renegade’s face. “God, is the circus back in town? It’s been awhile, I mean…” 

 

Now, Salem was aware that Renegade’s face might have caught him off guard. But the circus comment was just not necessary. Salem was too fragile to make ANY sort of rebuttal. Everyone’s been through a lot today, the world could always use a few more kind souls. The boy’s nametag read “Hello! My name is MARI” on it, with the name written in big goofy black marker. “Hey Mari. We just flew in from a few miles down there,” He made vague pushy hand gestures toward the door. “What can you hook us up with?” He asked. “Umm, well…” He switched from rapidly tapping his fingers on the desk to shoving his balled hands into each other. “I… Okay, this is really on my mind,” He asked, with doubt in his voice. “Are you a robot?” He laughed and pointed at Renegade. Salem laughed with him. Mari’s thick, wiry, curly brown hair jiggled as he giggled. “I mean! I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I mean like, your face is missing, bro.” It was an awkward second before all three of them just started laughing. 

 

“Alright, maybe it is a robot. I--” “Really??” “Uh, yes?” Salem was cautious of every word he said, only a little too late, knowing it could come back and bite him in the ass at any later time. “Hey, I have no problem with that, I’ve actually been wanting to let you know that we’re cool!” “You’re cool with robots?” Salem asked, leaning down to look at Mari over his glasses. “Oh yes. I think we can all get along. I don’t suppose any good reason we should be looking at them like they’re just stupid machines. What’s your name?” He said, giving a hand to Renegade. “Call me Ren.” It said, smiling. “Mari.” He said, as they shook hands. “So, Mari, did you hear the news?” “A little. Not much since yesterday. It must be stressful for you two, knowing they could be looking for you at any moment.” “Oh, Mari…” Salem said, breathily chuckling with exasperation. “Do you have a computer? There’s something on the news you might be interested in.” Truth be told, he, himself was quite interested in the reports. “There’s a TV in the lobby, actually. Follow me.” Mari walked them to the next room over from check in, which had a cafe and a comfortable looking dining area with a smallish flatscreen TV mounted on the wall. They sat down on the sofa that honestly looked comfier than it was. Mari turned on the TV.

 

The reception wasn’t exactly top notch, but they were there to gather as much information as they could. One thing that was different, the station wasn’t the one Salem and Renegade had watched earlier with his dad, yet there was still talk of robot invasions. Which could mean one thing, their robot invasion nonsense has definitely broken to national news. There was what appeared to be a live camera showing the city on the screen. “Residents are urged to seek shelter and stay in their houses. A state of emergency has been issued for the area.” A different voice spoke. “I’ve never seen anything like this before! A gigantic spaceship of some kind in the middle of the city, and now a large robot girl with wings pops out of it, more robots fall from the sky crashing into whateverthehell, it’s just not safe anymore. All I can think of is, you really don’t see that every day!” Back to the first voice. “Some people are reportedly being held hostage by the robots, some of which being policemen responding to the scene. But most importantly, we have little information on two suspects who fled the scene may have inside knowledge on the event.” “Oh Christ.” Salem whispered. “A high school boy with the name of Salem Daltroy and one unidentified friend flew away from the scene and that was the last that we have seen of them.” An unflattering school portrait of Salem from whichever year he last had portraits taken flashed on the screen and he cringed at himself. “If you have any information on the whereabouts of Salem Daltroy or his acquaintance, please let us know immediately. Your information is highly valued.” Salem and Renegade turned to give one another a knowing look, and then they both shifted towards Mari. 

 

Salem’s phone started to buzz and he squinted as if in pain. He flopped down on his side on the sofa and massaged his face with his palms. “So Mari, what’s up with you? Do you own this place? Where is everyone?” “I, uh,” He stammered. “I just work here. But everyone else heard the news about the robots I guess and took off. It’s never ever been too terribly busy, though.” The lobby was empty aside from them and a few people quietly sitting at the cafe, making no bother of themselves. “Ren, where’re you from?” Mari tilted his head looking at the robot. “I’m from a place far away from here. A place that should probably  _ stay _ far away from here.” “What do you mean? I’m sure plenty of humans would find you fascinating if it weren’t for the whole part where we assume you’re trying to kill us.” Renegade laughed. “I’ll bet you’re right. Humans are such inquisitive creatures. They want to believe, that’s what makes me believe.” It smiled, looking at Mari. “You have purple eyes…” “I do!” “They’re very nice, I’ve never seen anything like that for real. We have robots already, but they’re like, laborers and stuff like that. But I think like, why are they so demonized? Why are they always portrayed like our slaves or lesser? It’s really not fair.” Renegade nodded. All the while, Salem was laying down answering texts from Cambria and Peter. 

 

[2:21 PM] circuit: oh my god, salem, i’m sorry i ever doubted you. i want you and renegade to be safe. i hear people where you live are getting held hostage by the robots, please stay safe, and know that if you ever need help, i’m here for you. i’ve always had faith in you, salem. and by the way, the school picture i saw of you is very cute :p

 

Salem had halfway responded when he remembered there was a message from Peter as well. 

 

[2:21 PM] Peter: YOU BIG IDIOT YOU’VE DONE IT NOW. okay man forreal, id love to bail you out of this one but im not sure i can. you should probably maybe come turn yourself in to avoid any more trouble. whatever you do, dont be stupid and PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEWS

 

Salem knew deep within him that masked underneath all of Peter’s aggression was a friend who means well. Salem yawned, getting the attention of Mari and Renegade. “‘Scuse me Mari, but I don’t remember if you ever told us if you had any rooms available?” “Ah, as a matter of fact, we have plenty of rooms.” Mari chortled. Salem chortled too, but he more chortled out of self pity and fear when he realized that he had no money. “Sounds good, except I’m gonna be honest here, I have no clue how to pay you. We kinda just ran out this morning. I didn’t exactly plan on this.” “Hey guys, it’s on me. I figure you’ll only be here for a few days maximum anyway. And you’re welcome to any of our food supply either while we have it, please take some snacks from the pantry, actually.” Renegade and Salem gave their blessings and popped into the pantry. Salem microwaved some of his favorite express mac and walked down to the room that Mari gave them a key to. Salem unlocked the room. Home sweet home. At least for now. It was bittersweet. 

 

The room was cozy but its quality was apparent, and not very high. There were two beds separated by a nightstand and another desk with a TV exactly like the one in the lobby. There was a bathroom, which Salem was very happy to use and a shower which he’d take advantage of later. Salem jump flopped onto the bed nearest the door, because Renegade seemed to take kindly to the one by the window. He laid facedown on the bed and took a deep inhale, the kind where you can practically feel yourself being drained of a life’s worth of grief and exhaust entering and exiting your body. The bed smelled of lavender fabric softener and the texture of the blanket on top almost  _ irritated  _ his skin, but in all the right ways. After almost passing out on the bed, he decided to consider showering first. There’s nothing quite like taking a shower in an unfamiliar place and sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. He looked over and Renegade was happily fiddling with something in its pocket. He could leave it alone for a bit. “Carry on. I think I’m going to take a shower.” Renegade nodded in acknowledgement. 

 

_. . .  _

  
  


Salem sat up in his bed, wearing the crappy white bathrobe that the motel had provided for him. Renegade was not in the room that he could see, which was just a little bit frustrating but whatever, no one told Salem that he had to babysit. What was left of the rapidly decreasing natural light filtered in through the shades. He learned his head against the wall and closed his eyes slowly, shivering a little as the cool breeze from the air conditioner vent above his bed blew down on his damp body. He was alarmed when he heard the sound of the door to the room being opened, but figured it was Renegade returning. 

 

The boy laughed when he saw Renegade, because it was no longer wearing its hoodie and sweatpants. For some reason that Salem couldn’t possibly fathom, Renegade was wearing a suit. A black and white tuxedo suit. Renegade closed the door to the room and stood in front of the bed. “Where on EARTH did you get that suit, Ren?” Maybe babysitting the robot wasn’t such a bad idea. 

 

“I went to explore a little, I saw a few rooms with open doors and I peeked inside. There was a room with a bunch of clothing and I liked the way that this one looked.” Salem laughed even more at the explanation. “Oh my god, okay, lesson in human etiquette number one, please do not take things from other people’s closets.” “Oh…” Renegade looked ashamed. “I mean, you know what, it doesn’t REALLY matter I guess. Anyone who WAS staying in the motel for the week has now left without warning and possibly been abducted by robots, so now that I think of it, you do you, bud.” “Ah. Hey, I made something for you.” Renegade segued. “Oh?” 

 

Renegade reached under a flap of its tux and pulled out something that resembled a big ugly wristwatch. “Here.” It walked over to sit on the side of Salem’s bed. “Give me your arm.” It said, and Salem put out his left arm, rolling up the sleeve of the bathrobe. Renegade snapped the clunky object that was about the size of a human fist onto his arm with a satisfying  _ click _ . Salem lifted his arm up to get a look at it and he saw a small green button no bigger than his pinky fingertip. “Press the button.” Salem looked at Renegade with a barely detectable nervous grin. He pressed in the button and two black flaps opened upwards on top, the base of the insides of the object were green with circuitry. It gave off an electrical hum, and then a viridian hologram was projected upwards, so that it appeared as if a young humanoid was standing right on the platform on his wrist. It looked familiar to Salem, and it made him feel funny inside, not like “ha ha!” funny but more like “I’m not sure if I should have this” funny. 

 

“You did it, Ren! I’m so happy to see you!” The hologram said. That voice was familiar as well. “Me too, Holly. WE did it.” Salem stared at Renegade’s face as it looked down at its creation with wonder and glory. It looked so happy. “Holly, this is Salem. Holly is your holobot, it can do anything that I can do. Unfortunately, I didn’t have all of my tools that I have in my domain. So I couldn’t make it as powerful as I am. There are some limitations, so be aware of how you’re using it.” Salem smiled at Renegade, but he still couldn't shake the strange feeling in his gut. “Ask it to do something! Ask it to sing you a song.” “Sing me a song, Holly.” 

 

Holly’s music came out in 8 bit blips, but it sounded very sweet. The melody was so beautiful, Salem looked at the holobot as it sang to him. It made him feel sleepy and relaxed, at peace, almost like a lullaby. But it also made him want to cry for some reason. When its song ended, Salem had tears in his eyes. “Thank you, Holly.” Renegade said, but even it looked slightly distressed. “My pleasure!” Holly folded back into its block and the glow faded, as it sat on Salem’s wrist. “How did you make this?” Salem asked.

 

Renegade looked away, down to its feet, it stayed quiet for a moment before responding. “Holly is made out of the same technology as my first human. The one that we saw in the ship.” “What happened to it? What did Vendetta make you do to it?!” Salem said, almost panicking, resting his wrist on his knee. “I had to kill it to save us.” “That’s terrible, Ren! Don’t you want to do something about it? You didn’t have to do that!” “Hey, sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the ones we love. When I built that human, it was very very special to me, yes, but I didn’t know I’d have to kill it to save you.” “So… What was the thing you guys were talking about, something  about the last satellite left in the sky? What does that mean?” Salem asked. “It’s said that, where I come from at least, there is one indicator that the universe is coming to an end. Robots like Vendetta will tell you that we’re gods, we’re the best because we were made to outlive the end of the universe but even people like you and I know that it simply isn’t practical. They told me, when there’s that one satellite left in the sky, that’s how we know that our time is over.”  Salem covered his mouth with his other hand and stared at the wall, blinking back tears. “This robot will save your life again and again. And now I suppose I must tell you this, I can’t be here for a long time. I have to go back soon, and I have to fight Vendetta. But until then, don’t worry Salem. I will keep you safe. I love you always.” Salem leaned into Renegade and hugged him tightly. 

 

Renegade laid Salem down on the bed and rubbed his forehead with its robotic hand. It began  to softly chirp in a similar set of chiptune sounds the same melody that Holly was singing earlier. This made Salem very sleepy. He closed his eyes and sank lower into his bed. A series of human idiosyncrasies led Renegade to believe that humans were the most ethereal beings in their observable universe. It sang to Salem, it watched Salem twitch as he gingerly fell asleep. “See you tomorrow, sweet human.” It cooed at him, and soon it was only Renegade to lay there, dwelling on the choices of the gods. 

**Author's Note:**

> xd


End file.
